Redefining the motto in the fifteenth-century sine nomine Mass

Alexis Luko

doi:10.1017/S0961137111000015

Redefining the motto in the fifteenth-century sine nomine Mass

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 September 2011

Alexis Luko

Article contents

Abstract
Motto identification
Motto vocabulary
Reassessing the motto
References

Rights & Permissions

Abstract

During the early years of the cyclic sine nomine Mass, before the invention of the cantus firmus Mass, the motto or head motive served as the principal means of unification. The motto has typically been characterised as a relatively uncomplicated single-voice or multi-voice unifying motive presented in the first few measures of each movement of a Mass Ordinary. This article challenges and expands common perceptions of the motto and proposes new vocabulary to aid in identifying mottos and associated repetition and variation techniques. Musical examples from the sine nomine Mass repertory dating between c.1420 and c.1466 (including the anonymous Missa Fa-ut and works by John Benet, Johannes Reson, Johannes Lymburgia, Barbingant and Jo. Bassere) reveal commonalities in motto construction and variation. These works employ multiple mottos, which, besides acting as initial gestures at the openings of movements, also serve to punctuate most subsections and are even found articulating certain words and phrases incorporated within the general contrapuntal fabric. By means of complex procedures of repetition and variation, composers applied a richer and more multifaceted approach to motto construction than previously recognised – a finding that has important ramifications for a deeper understanding of compositional approaches to repetition in cyclic Mass Ordinary settings of the early Renaissance period.

Information

Type: Research Article
Information: Plainsong & Medieval Music , Volume 20 , Issue 2 , October 2011, pp. 123 - 144
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0961137111000015 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

The musical ‘motto’ or ‘head motive’ of the cyclic Mass Ordinary was first identified by Manfred Bukofzer, who succinctly described it as ‘a brief characteristic motive in one or more voices that recurs at the beginning of each movement in the same or only slightly varied form’, but has ‘no influence on the further course and structure of the composition’ beyond the initial measures.Footnote ¹ Over sixty years have passed since Bukofzer penned this definition – one that has, to date, remained more or less unexamined. Although the terms ‘motto’, ‘head motive’ and ‘secondary head motive’ have become assimilated into analytical vocabulary, much remains to be discovered about the history, development and function of these musical tags.

Evidence for the origins of the cyclic Mass motto may be found in a handful of Gloria–Credo and Sanctus–Agnus Mass pairs in Bologna Biblioteca Liceo Musicale Q15 (olim 37) and Turin Bibl. naz. J.II.9.Footnote ² While most of these Mass pairs (by composers such as Guillaume Du Fay, Arnold de Lantins and Johannes de Lymburgia) share common clefs, mensurations, signatures and/or finals, nine of forty-two are unified by motto beginnings.Footnote ³ By the 1420s, mottos began to appear at the openings of movements in certain Franco-Flemish Mass cycles (known as ‘motto Masses’) by Du Fay, Lantins, Lymburgia, Johannes Reson, Reginaldus Libert and Etienne Grossin. The motto Mass was later eclipsed by the English tenor cantus firmus Mass – a composition that incorporated borrowed melodies (from chant, chansons, instrumental pieces or motets) into the tenor line of each of its five movements.Footnote ⁴ Often overlooked is the fact that the motto continued not only to be used, but also developed as a compositional device throughout the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It remained an important fixture in all Mass subgenres, assuming a crucial role in the freely composed variety ‘without a name’, commonly known as the sine nomine Mass.Footnote ⁵

Over the years, certain scholars have expanded Bukofzer's definitions of the Mass motto. Edgar Sparks and Charles Hamm, for example, first identified ‘secondary head motives’ in interior subsections of fifteenth-century Mass Ordinary settings of the Missa Ave regina caelorum by Dufay and the Missa sine nomine by Johannes Reson.Footnote ⁶ Years later, Adelyn Peck Leverett found ‘variable head motives’ with similar discantus-voice melodic contours but different rhythmic and contrapuntal profiles in a small group of Masses in the Trent 89 and 91 manuscripts.Footnote ⁷ Although these studies have elucidated many important aspects of fifteenth-century Mass composition, a vital question has been left unanswered: what do we actually know about the motto? Or, more aptly put: what do we think we know about the motto? The present investigation seeks to reassess commonly held notions pertaining to the formal construction, placement, repetition and variation of mottos in the sine nomine Mass repertory of the fifteenth century. The list below takes stock of ideas that have circulated over the years regarding the motto.Footnote ⁸

1 One fundamental motto unifies an entire sine nomine Mass.
2 All initial statements of mottos are first encountered in the Kyrie.
3 A motto can involve any number of voices; it can be found in a single voice or in multiple voices.
4 Mottos are usually brief.
5 Mottos are primarily found at the opening of Mass movements.
6 Sometimes, a secondary motto can be encountered at the beginning of a subsection of a movement.
7 Sine nomine or motto Masses are unsophisticated compared to works with a cantus prius factus.

The validity of these ideas will be tested against examples from early sine nomine Masses by John Benet, Johannes Reson, John Bedingham and Johannes Lymburgia, and from mid-century repertory (c.1460–66) found in Trent 89, including Masses by Barbingant and Jo. Bassere and the anonymous Missa Fa-ut (known elsewhere as the Missa Prolatio perfecta).Footnote ⁹ This study aims to update and refine our understanding of the motto and presents a preliminary step towards establishing a new analytical vocabulary – one that accounts for how composers applied a richer and more multifaceted approach to motto construction, arrangement, repetition and variation than has been previously recognised.

Motto identification

Labelling

Contrary to previously held notions, most sine nomine Masses are actually unified by multiple mottos. Mottos can appear in single-voice and multi-voice forms and, besides appearing at the beginnings of Mass movements, they commonly serve as inaugural gestures to Mass subsections as well. In the labelling system devised below, two criteria are essential to motto identification: positional context and repetition. The motto, in its initial and at least one of its repeated forms, must be located at the beginning of a movement or at the beginning of a subsection of a movement.Footnote ¹⁰ In most cases, the ‘beginning’ constitutes the first sounding semibreve, while in other cases, a motto might be delayed by a few semibreves. Furthermore, the motto should be repeated at least once. Repetition, however, need not be strict. A controlled measure of flexibility is permitted when identifying what exactly constitutes repetition.Footnote ¹¹ When identifying repetition, rhythm is the least important parameter, as it is the most variable in fifteenth-century motto repetition. Consistencies in pitch sequence and melodic contour, on the other hand, are of paramount importance. Motto identification is then based on careful consideration of at least one other secondary consideration – namely, contrapuntal context, texture, rhythm and/or text.

Example 1 shows how motto labels are applied to the opening Kyrie of the Reson Mass. Each label identifies the movement, subsection and voice in which the motto is initially encountered. The first letter indicates in what movement the motto originates (K: Kyrie – G: Gloria – C: Credo – S: Santus – A: Agnus). A Roman numeral specifies further the subsection of the movement (e.g. subsection I, II or III of the Kyrie), followed by the voice in which the motto is situated (a for Superius, b for Contratenor and c for Tenor).Footnote ¹²

Ex. 1

Johannes Reson, Opening of Kyrie: Melodic Motto labels KIa, KIb, and KIc.

Annotating varied repetition

In all the musical examples below, strict repetition is distinguished from varied repetition, motto pitches from non-motto pitches and repeated material from non-repeated material. Normal-sized note heads are used for repeated material while small note heads represent free, non-repeated material (see Ex. 2).Footnote ¹³ Melodic mottos are indicated with a square bracket and motto label. Parentheses are used to indicate non-repeated notes within a melodic motto (see Exs. 6 and 7). When varied repetition is more difficult to detect, melodic mottos are annotated with Arabic, lowercase and uppercase Roman numerals (see Exs. 13–16).

Ex. 2

Annotation of repeated material and non-repeated material.

Because of the flexibility of motto identity, the first form of the motto (i.e. as presented in the Kyrie movement) is not viewed as the ‘ur-form’.Footnote ¹⁴ Instead, the ‘full’ motto always constitutes the longest repeated form. This means that a motto can progressively expand or contract through multiple repetitions in a Mass. It is not a fixed motivic entity, but is always in flux; expanding, contracting and merging with other motivic material. In fact, in many sine nomine Masses, mottos are transformed in a successive manner, so that each new permutation grows out of a previous statement. A motto can undergo so many alterations over the course of a Mass that by the time it reaches its final form, if heard without the context of all of its varied restatements, repetition can be, admittedly, difficult to recognise. When heard within this context, however, much is revealed about fifteenth-century approaches to contrapuntal repetition and variation.

Motto vocabulary

Motto module

While some mottos appear in single-voice forms, most are found in multi-voice combinations. There are two main varieties of repetitive multi-voice mottos: the motto module and the motto constellation. ‘Modules’ have formerly been defined and identified by Jessie Ann Owens and Peter Schubert in music of the sixteenth century.Footnote ¹⁵ A motto module comprises a group of melodic mottos that sound simultaneously in two or more voices and, when repeated, maintain the same vertical intervals and contrapuntal relationships. In a pioneering cyclic Mass by Johannes Lymburgia motto modules are located at the opening of the Sanctus and Agnus movements (see Exs. 3 and 4). Here, ‘modular activity’ is outlined with boxes.

Ex. 3

Lymburgia, Missa Sine Nomine, Sanctus I: Motto Module.

Ex. 4

Lymburgia, Missa Sine Nomine, Agnus I: Motto Module.

The Missa sine nomine by Johannes Reson presents motto modules in the third subsection of the Kyrie, Sanctus and Agnus, respectively (Exs. 5–7).Footnote ¹⁶

Ex. 5

Reson, Missa sine nomine, Kyrie III, KIII Module.

Ex. 6

Reson, Missa sine nomine, Sanctus III, KIII Module.

Ex. 7

Reson, Missa sine nomine, Agnus III, KIII Module.

Motto modules can also be found at the opening of each of the five movements of a sine nomine Mass by mid-century composer Jo. Bassere (see Exs. 8–12). For eachrepetition, KI's rhythmic, melodic and contrapuntal profile is maintained. The only exceptions are found in the Gloria, where the motto module is reduced to a two-voice texture (superius and tenor) and at the opening of the Agnus, where it is heard in abbreviated form.

Ex. 8

Jo. Bassere, Missa sine nomine, Kyrie I, initial presentation of KI Motto Module.

Ex. 9

Jo. Bassere, Missa sine nomine, Gloria I, KI Motto Module.

Ex. 10

Jo. Bassere, Missa sine nomine, Credo I, KI Motto Module.

Ex. 11

Jo. Bassere, Missa sine nomine, Sanctus I, KI Motto Module.

Ex. 12

Jo. Bassere, Missa sine nomine, Agnus I, KI Motto Module.

Motto constellation

A motto constellation comprises a group of melodic mottos sounded simultaneously or successively at the beginning of a Mass movement or Mass subsection. Melodic mottos in motto constellations are always found clustered together but, unlike the module, the constellation's melodic mottos may recur in any arrangement, in various states of rhythmic displacement and in any vertical or contrapuntal combinations. When reiterated, a constellation always undergoes motto transformation to take on a new, altered form. Figure 1 illustrates hypothetical paradigms in which motto constellations are transformed through an array of variation techniques. As shown, motto transformation can occur when a melodic motto shifts to a new voice and/or when rhythmic, melodic or harmonic modifications are made. Sometimes an individual melodic motto in a constellation is delayed because it is preceded by a few semibreves of rest or because a number of introductory pitches are added to ornament the opening.

Fig. 1

Examples of Motto Transformation.

Examples 13–16 reveal the KI-motto constellation and all its various permutations throughout Johannes Reson's Missa sine nomine. Example 13 presents the initial motto constellation made up of KIa, KIb and KIc melodic mottos. The motto constellation manifests itself in numerous ways throughout Reson's Mass and is often disguised through melodic ornamentation, rhythmic variation and new contrapuntal combinations. The Kyrie presents the most elaborate version of the constellation, while the mottos in Examples 14–16 are more condensed.

In an early English sine nomine Mass by John Benet, a motto constellation is found at the opening of the Gloria and Agnus movements (see Exs. 17 and 18). Agnus I features an instance of motto transformation, involving the delayed motto entry of GIb, which enters after the sounding of two introductory pitches.

Internal motto

Not all mottos are entirely dependent upon positional context. In some cases, multi-voiced mottos that initially appear at the beginnings of Mass movements or subsections, when reiterated, can be found at other points in the contrapuntal texture as well. Mottos that appear in positions other than the beginnings of movements or subsections are called internal mottos. In order to qualify as internal mottos, they have to establish themselves as regular mottos by way of two or more appearances at the openings of movements or subsections. Furthermore, internal mottos must be musically highlighted (a) with long or expanded note values, (b) with a cadence directly preceding or following, (c) with rests in one or more voices, (d) by coinciding with the start of a textual phrase and/or (e) by participating in a point of imitation.

Barbingant's Missa sine nomine features examples of internal mottos. The Mass opens with a lengthy three-voice motto constellation in the Kyrie movement (see Ex. 19).Footnote ¹⁷ Spanning fourteen semibreves, each of the voices that make up the KI constellation has a distinctive contour. The superius outlines a third from d to f, makes its way up to a and concludes with a descent to d. The tenor begins with a fifth leap from D to a, followed by repeated neighbour tone motion d-c(#)-d, d-(c#)-d. The low contratenor voice, with its alternation between D–A–D (no less than three times), outlining both the plagal octave, with the fourth below and the fifth above, has the most distinctive contour.

Ex. 13

Reson, Missa Sine Nomine, Kyrie I: KI Motto Constellation.

Ex. 14

Reson, Missa Sine Nomine, Gloria I: KI Motto Constellation.

Ex. 15

Reson, Missa Sine Nomine, Credo I: KI Motto Constellation.

Ex. 16

Reson, Missa Sine Nomine, Sanctus I: KI Motto Constellation.

Ex. 17

Benet, Missa sine nomine, no. 1, GIa Motto Constellation.

Ex. 18

Benet, Missa sine nomine, no. 1, Agnus I (NB: GIa (Ex. 17) features interpolated notes (marked with parentheses) while the entry of GIb is delayed).

Ex. 19

Barbingant, Missa sine nomine, opening of Kyrie movement, KI Constellation.

In the Gloria and Credo, the KI constellation appears as an internal motto wherein motto entry is delayed until the third line of text. In the case of the Gloria movement ( Ex. 20), the KI motto constellation articulates the words: ‘Laudamus te, Benedicimus te’. Of all the melodic mottos that comprise the KI constellation, the tenor (KIb) statement is the most emphatic. Here, the leap of a fifth from D to a in long note values (ten and six semibreves, respectively) signals to the listener and performer that something significant is occurring. If this particular Mass were of the cantus firmus variety, the long-note tenor line would certainly coincide with the entry of the cantus prius factus. In this particular case, however, a prolonged tenor note highlights the fact that this is an internal occurrence of the KI constellation. A comparison between Ex. 19 and Ex. 20 reveals that KIa in the latter example features ornamental pitch addition on the second pitch (f), while KIc outlines the original fourth and fifth leaps between D and a.

Ex. 20

Barbingant, Missa sine nomine, third line of text in Gloria I, Internal Motto

KI Constellation at ‘Laudamus te’.

It is not difficult to see the similarities between the internal motto of Barbingant's Gloria movement and that found at measure 22 at the words ‘Dominum Jesum Christum’ in the Credo movement (see Ex. 21). In both examples, Barbingant lays out the tenor's melodic motto (KIb) in long note values.

Ex. 21

Barbingant, Missa sine nomine, third line of text in Credo, Delayed Motto Entry of ‘KI constellation’ with imitative/ornamental inserted passage ‘X’ at Patrem/Dominum Jesu Christum'.

The Credo adds another motivic layer to the KI constellation in the form of a short imitative passage labelled ‘X’ (strictly imitated at the octave) that ornaments the second note of the KIa melodic motto. This ornamental motive later recurs at the opening of both the Sanctus and the Agnus movements as a melodic motto prefix (Exs. 22 and 23) – each time in conjunction with restatements of the KI constellation. In this way, motive ‘X’ becomes an ‘add-on’ to the original KI constellation.

Ex. 22

Barbingant, Missa sine nomine, opening of Sanctus, KI Constellation with ‘X’ Motto Prefix.

Ex. 23

Barbingant, Missa sine nomine, opening of Agnus, KI Constellation with ‘X’ Motto Prefix.

Although the KIa and KIb melodic mottos that comprise the KI constellation of Examples 22 and 23 are modelled closely on the initial Kyrie motto of Example 19, the identity of the lower-contratenor motto as KIc is not nearly as obvious. A comparison of contratenor lines at the openings of movements and subsections (Ex. 24), however, reveals that KIc takes varied shapes and forms over the course of the Mass.

Ex. 24

Barbingant, Missa sine nomine, transformation of KIc melodic motto in low Contratenor:

a) Kyrie: initial form of KIc melodic motto (also see Ex. 19)

b) Credo: addition of ‘X’ Prefix to KIc (also see Ex. 21)

c) Sanctus: (also see Ex. 22)

d) Agnus: (also see Ex. 23).

The KIc motto undergoes such dramatic alterations that by the time it reaches its final form in the Agnus movement, if viewed without the context of all of its varied statements, it is difficult to recognise a connection between Examples 24a and 24d. This is a wonderful illustration of how a motto can subtly change and merge with other motivic material. In this Mass, Barbingant's motto does not exist as an iconic, self-contained or isolated symbol. Instead, the motto expands and contracts through a series of variation procedures whereby each new permutation develops from a previous motto statement.

It is possible that composers purposely used internal mottos as a means of articulating salient words and phrases of Mass Ordinary text. Indeed, rhetorically motivated internal mottos are manifest in many sine nomine Masses of the fifteenth century, suggesting that the practice of highlighting references to the Holy Trinity (and its constituent parts) with musical mottos may actually reflect those gesticulations intrinsic to rituals associated with the liturgy. Kneeling, genuflecting and bowing are part of a long-standing gestural tradition associated with the Catholic Mass. Of significance to this study is the time-honoured practice of partially bowing when mention is made of Jesus Christ, the Father, the Holy Ghost or the Virgin Mary.Footnote ¹⁸ Musical mottos may have assumed symbolic significance through their association with certain significant words in the Mass. Seen in this way, the motto would have served the ritual function of eliciting a bow from the celebrant(s), the symbolic function of signifying the Holy Trinity, the spiritual function of inducing group contemplation of the Lord's name and the musical function of linking all five movements of the Mass Ordinary.

The constellation + module hybrid

Most early fifteenth-century sine nomine Masses feature motto constellations that almost always undergo melodic, rhythmic and contrapuntal variation. Later in the century, mottos assume a more straightforward and literal form, featuring fewer rhythmic changes and a smaller number of inserted pitches. From 1450 onwards, the motto constellation is slowly replaced by the motto module. At times, composers combine these two motto-types to create the constellation + module hybrid. Examples 25–29 illustrate the KI constellation + module hybrid found in the Missa Fa-ut, a Mass that has been deemed ‘the most tightly structured of the motto Masses.’Footnote ¹⁹ For the first six to eight semibreves, KI begins as a module (the modular portion of KI is outlined with a box). Thereafter, KI becomes a constellation (the superius and tenorvoices are similarly matched in each movement while the contratenors are more varied).

Ex. 25

Missa Fa-ut, Kyrie I, initial presentation of KI Constellation + Module.

Ex. 26

Missa Fa-ut, Gloria I, KI Constellation + Module.

Ex. 27

Missa Fa-ut, Credo I, KI Constellation + Module.

Ex. 28

Missa Fa-ut, Sanctus I, KI Constellation + Module.

Ex. 29

Missa Fa-ut, Agnus I, KI Constellation + Module.

Motto imitation

In many sine nomine Masses, imitation interacts with and articulates the entry of internally positioned mottos through a procedure called motto imitation. The Missa Fa-ut has several examples of motto imitation. The KII constellation first appears at the opening of the second Kyrie subsection with a partial statement of the ubiquitous ‘Fa-Ut’ tenor motto (F-C-F) KIc (see Ex. 30).

Ex. 30

Missa Fa-ut, Kyrie II, KII Motto Constellation.

Ex. 31

Missa Fa-ut, Gloria I, ‘Laudamus te.’ Entrance of KIIa' articulated with rests and motto imitation.

Ex. 32

Missa Fa-ut, Gloria I, ‘Deus Pater.’ KIIa in Motto Imitation.

Ex. 33

Missa Fa-ut, Gloria II, ‘Domine fili,’ KIIa in Motto Imitation.

KIIa is revisited in the Gloria articulating the words ‘Laudamus te’ in a passage of motto imitation between superius and tenor (Ex. 31). Here and elsewhere appearances of KIIa as an internal motto are often signalled by introductory rests or by the repetition of C.

KIIa is also heard as an internal motto in the Gloria I section at the words ‘Deus Pater’ where motto imitation occurs between the superius and tenor (Ex. 32), and again in the ‘Domine fili’ GII-subsection. The richly imitative texture and tightly integrated motivic structure of this latter Gloria subsection (shown in its entirety in Ex. 33) exemplifies how the composer of the Missa Fa-ut sensitively responds to the text ‘Domine fili unigenite Jesu Christe. Domine Deus Agnus Dei Filius Patris.’ Here, the Son and the Father (‘Lord Son only begotten Jesus Christ … Son of the Father’) meld in a passage where KIIa imitation assumes symbolic and spiritual meaning. The use of imitation may be seen to reflect what Christopher Reynolds has identified as a compositional trend that characterises works from the ‘last decades of the century … before imitative counterpoint became the stylistic norm’.Footnote ²⁰ During this period, Reynolds argues, ‘composers had more freedom to use imitation as an expressive tool for interpreting those portions of the Mass that either described unity between separate entities (between Father and Son, for example) or actions such as leading and following.’Footnote ²¹

Reassessing the motto

The musical examples from the case studies examined above spring from a group of approximately eighty extant sine nomine Masses – works that have received relatively little attention when compared to the more popular cantus firmus Mass.Footnote ²² The labelling system and musical terminology help to navigate through some of the more standard motto-types and variation techniques that can be found in this repertory. With the motto constellation, counterpoint is varied through melodic ornamentation or pitch deletion, rhythmic variation and/or contrapuntal transformations, whereas with the motto module, all contrapuntal relationships between voices are strictly repeated. In the early fifteenth century, the motto constellation is favoured; after the mid-fifteenth-century, mottos assume a more straightforward and literal form through the constellation + module hybrid and motto module.

The motto varies in length and can be brief (as remarked by Bukofzer) but, more often than not, it constitutes a full musical ‘phrase’ that is typically articulated with a punctuating intermediary cadence. Initial motto statements may be encountered at the beginning of any or all Mass movements or at the head of subsections within movements. Therefore, given how frequently non-KI ‘subsection’ mottos are encountered in the sine nomine Mass repertory, it hardly seems appropriate to use the term ‘secondary’ motto. Indeed, most prominent sine nomine Mass mottos are initially introduced at the opening of all three Kyrie subsections and at least a couple Gloria subsections, meaning that it is typical for a Mass to be unified by a collection of KI, KII, KIII, GI and GII mottos.Footnote ²³

Besides punctuating the openings of Mass movements, the motto can also recur at other locations as an internal motto. In order to highlight the aural experience of an internal motto, composers routinely employed rests, cadences, long-note values and imitation. This latter technique, called motto imitation, is particularly widespread when imitative textures begin to come into vogue in mid-century Mass repertory and beyond.Footnote ²⁴ When motto imitation is employed, often one or two distinctive melodic mottos of a multi-voice motto constellation or motto module (i.e. the FA-UT in the Missa Fa-Ut) are treated as a subject, thus permitting a ‘working-out’ of motivic material as the motto overlaps with itself and sounds in multiple voices of the Mass texture.

The works featured in the analyses above not only enhance our understanding of how the sine nomine motto is used, but also offer insight into techniques governing fifteenth-century contrapuntal repetition and variation. It turns out that decades before the impact of the English cantus firmus Mass was felt on the continent, English and continental composers were already well-versed in sophisticated compositional techniques that involved repetition and variation. Unlike the lengthy repetitive cantus prius facti of the cantus firmus Mass, however, the sine nomine Mass employs short repetitive motivic units. The fact that these units are so small means that their deployment is much freer in that they can be repeated, varied and combined in countless forms and positions throughout a Mass. As is the case with the single-line tenor cantus firmus, the multi-voice motto is also highly variable and prone to pitch deletion, addition and rhythmic manipulation. Unlike variation of a cantus firmus, however, mottos often transform from movement to movement in a successive manner, so that each new permutation grows out of a previous statement. Mottos of the sine nomine Mass are often contrapuntal multi-voice units, suggesting a precedent for repetition and variation techniques in a Mass subgenre that became popular much later in the fifteenth century – the Parody Mass, which is also based on the repetition of contrapuntal blocks. One Mass-type borrows and the other is freely composed, but both use similar techniques of contrapuntal repetition and variation. Typically characterised as a relatively isolated, self-contained and static motivic unit, the motto is revealed to have a very different profile. It is a great testament to the spirit of compositional experimentation that no two sine nomine Masses are alike. In fact, given the variability of the mottos in the analyses featured in this study, at times, the designation ‘motto’, though still viable, does not truly capture the more subtle nuances of its internal structure, function and formal placement. Nonetheless, more exact vocabulary at least permits us to qualify some of those nuances, as it answers where, how and in what contexts mottos repeat, thus providing another small step towards understanding compositional process in early Renaissance music.

References

1 Manfred Bukofzer, ‘Caput: A Liturgico-Musical Study’, in idem, Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Music (New York, 1950), 219.

2 Bologna Q15 features a number of continental composers (including Dufay, Binchois, Ciconia, Brassart, Benet, Hugo de Lantins, Arnold de Lantins, Johannes Franchois, Lymburgia, Hubertus de Salinas, Guillaume LeGrant and Loqueville), while Turin's repertory is entirely anonymous. For the most recent study on Bologna Q15, see Margaret Bent, Bologna Q15: The Making and Remaking of a Musical Manuscript, Introductory Study and Facsimile Edition, 2 vols. (Lucca, 2008). See also: Guillaume De Van, ‘Inventory of Manuscript Bologna, Liceo Musicale, Q15 (olim 37)’, Musica Disciplina, 2 (1948), 231–57; Margaret Bent, ‘A Contemporary Perception of Early Fifteenth-Century Style: Bologna Q15 as a Document of Scribal Editorial Initiative’, Musica Disciplina, 41 (1987), 183–201. Charles Hamm has characterised Bologna Q15 as a manuscript that ‘preserves by far the largest collection of paired movements and partial, composite and complete Masses from this time’ in: ‘The Reson Mass’, Journal of the American Musicological Society, 18 (1965), 5–21, at 5. On Turin J.II.9, see Richard H. Hoppin, ‘The Cypriot-French Repertory of the Manuscript Torino, Bibliotheca Nazionale, J.II.9’, Musica Disciplina, 11 (1957), 79–125; Ursula Günther and Ludwig Finscher, eds., The Cypriot-French Repertory of the Manuscript Torino J.II.9 (Neuhausen-Stuttgart, 1995).

3 There are thirty-five Mass pairs in Bologna Q15 and seven Mass pairs in Turin. On Mass-pair unification in Bologna Q15, Hamm states: ‘Eight of the pairs are unified by common head-motive in the two sections’ (‘The Reson Mass’, 6). On Mass-pair unification in Turin, Hamm writes: ‘None of the seven [Gloria–Credo Mass pairs] is unified by common tenor or parody technique, [and] only the first has a common head-motive’ (ibid., 9). For discussions on Mass pairs in Bologna Q15, see Gossett, Philip, ‘Techniques of Unification in Early Cyclic Masses and Mass Pairs’, Journal of the American Musicological Society, 19 (1966), 205–231CrossRef Google Scholar . Gossett is critical of how we decide exactly what constitutes a Mass pair or cycle. His scholarship is particularly applicable to those Mass pairs and Masses that appear in early manuscripts such as Bologna Q15, where movements are grouped within their respective sections. On Sanctus–Agnus Mass pairs of English origin, see Wright, Peter, ‘Early 15th-Century Pairings of the Sanctus and Agnus Dei and the Case of the Composer Bloym’, The Journal of Musicology, 22 (2005), 604–643CrossRef Google Scholar . For a discussion of stylistic unification of Mass pairs by Lantins using techniques of imitation and chromaticism, see Reinhard Strohm, The Rise of European Music: 1380–1500 (Cambridge, 1993), 173–6. Other English and continental manuscripts in which Gloria–Credo and Sanctus–Agnus movements are intentionally composed as units include Old Hall, Oxford 213, Bologna 2216, Aosta, Trent 87 and Trent 92. See Bukofzer, ‘Caput’, 217–26.

4 Bukofzer, ‘Caput’, 221. For a discussion that problematises notions of unity in the cyclic Mass, see Strohm, The Rise of European Music, 170–2. Strohm suggests that the ‘cyclic Mass was fostered by pragmatic, rather than aesthetic, considerations’ (ibid., 171 and 229). Also see Andrew Kirkman, ‘Innovation, Stylistic Patterns and the Writing of History: The Case of Bedyngham's Mass Dueil Angoisseux’, in I codici musicali trentini: nuove scoperte e nuovi orientamenti della ricerca, ed. Danilo Curti, Marco Gozzi and Peter Wright (Trent, 1996), 149–75. For other research on the early history of the Mass that argues for connections between the isorhythmic motet and cyclic cantus firmus Mass, see Thomas Brothers, ‘Vestiges of the Isorhythmic Tradition in Mass and Motet, ca.1450–1475’, Journal of the American Musicological Society, 44 (1991), 1–56. For the historical reception of the cyclic Mass, see Andrew Kirkman, ‘The Invention of the Cyclic Mass’, Journal of the American Musicological Society, 54 (2001), 1–47. Also see Kirkman, The Cultural Life of the Early Polyphonic Mass: Medieval Context to Modern Revival (Cambridge, 2010). Though historiography exposes certain ‘baggage’ linked to the word ‘movement’ and its obvious associations with the symphony, for the sake of clarity I choose to use this term, nonetheless, as my analyses require a clear differentiation between the openings of Mass ‘movements’ and Mass ‘subsections’.

5 Other Mass subgenres in which the motto may be found are the cantus firmus Mass, the paraphrase Mass, imitation Mass (or cantus firmus Mass with ancillary borrowings) and parody/ad imitationem Mass. Sparks claims that the motto and cantus prius factus were seldom combined. See Edgar H. Sparks, Cantus Firmus in Mass and Motet: 1420–1520 (Berkeley, 1963), 121. Dufay was one of the first composers to use both a cantus firmus and a motto in his Missa Se la face ay pale and Missa Ave regina caelorum. My definition of the sine nomine Mass includes those works that allude to snippets of chanson or plainchant. In his pioneering work on fifteenth-century allusion, Christopher Reynolds has, for instance, discovered many chanson allusions in Masses of San Pietro B80 and has shown how a single Mass can include several allusions to numerous chansons. Conveyed in voices other than the tenor, unlike the cantus firmus, allusion does not function as a structural backbone to a Mass. Reynolds, ‘Counterpoint of Allusion in Fifteenth-Century Masses’, Journal of the American Musicological Society, 45 (1992), 228–60. Also see Reynolds, Papal Patronage and the Music of St. Peter's 1380–1513 (Berkeley, 1995); Kirkman, ‘The Case of Bedyngham's Mass Dueil Angoisseux’, 149–75; Robert Mitchell, ‘The Paleography and Repertory of Trent Codices 89 and 91, Together with Analyses and Editions of Six Mass Cycles by Franco-Flemish Composers from Trent 89’, Ph.D. diss., University of Exeter (1989).

6 When Sparks found similar musical material at the beginning of interior sections of movements of Dufay's Missa Ave regina caelorum, he wondered if they should be ‘considered as an extension of the device of the head motive – that is, as secondary head motives’. Sparks, Cantus Firmus in Mass and Motet, 127. Hamm noticed that the Reson Mass employed an extended motive at the beginning of interior subsections and he referred to this as a ‘motive relationship’. Hamm, ‘The Reson Mass’, 17.

7 As we shall see below, motto variation is typical in the sine nomine Mass and, therefore, the ‘variable head motives’ that Adelyn Peck Leverett identifies in Trent 89 and 91 should not necessarily be seen as stylistically connected to the Austro-German school of low-contratenor Mass composition. Adelyn Peck Leverett, ‘A Paleographical and Repertorial Study of the Manuscript Trento, Castello Del Buonconsiglio, 91 (1378)’, 2 vols., Ph.D. diss., Princeton University (1990), 1:186–8. For an in-depth investigation into head motives in Lymburgia's Missa sine nomine, see Jerry Haller Etheridge, ‘The works of Johannes Lymburgia’, 2 vols., Ph.D. diss., Indiana University (1972), 1:182–6. Fabrice Fitch has concluded from his investigation of head motives in the Missa Mimi, Missa Au travail suis and the Missa Quinti toni that these works are ‘distinguished from Ockeghem's other Masses by a certain literal-mindedness in the treatment of the motto’. See Fabrice Fitch, Johannes Ockeghem: Masses and Models (Paris, 1997), 191.

8 These statements are synthesised from numerous sources including the following: Bukofzer, ‘Caput’, 217–310; Gustave Reese, Music in the Renaissance (New York, 1959) and Sparks, Cantus Firmus, passim; Gossett, ‘Techniques’, 211–20; Hamm, ‘The Reson Mass’, 16f.; Howard Mayer Brown, Music in the Renaissance (Upper Saddle River, NJ, 1999), 15 and 57; Allan Atlas, Renaissance Music: Music in Western Europe, 1400–1600 (New York, 1998), 118–19; Leeman L. Perkins, Music in the Age of the Renaissance (New York, 1999), 352–90.

9 Benet Missa sine nomine, no. 1: Bol Q15: fols. 24v–25r (S); Bol Q15: fols. 25v–16r; (A) Tr 92: fols. 165v–167v (G). For transcriptions, see Gareth Curtis, ‘Introduction’, in Fifteenth-Century Liturgical Music IV: Early Masses and Mass-Pairs (London, 2001), ix; the Benet Mass on pp. 3–13. Earlier editions: Trienter Codices V, ed. Rudolf Ficker, Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Österreich 61 (Vienna, 1924), 85–7 (Gloria); Early English Harmony from the 10th to the 15th Century: Transcriptions and Notes, vol. 2, ed. Dom Anselm Hughes (London, 1913), 120–6 (Sanctus and Agnus Dei). Reson Mass: Bol 2216: fols. 5v–7r, 19v–23r. Modern editions: Hamm, ‘The Reson Mass’, 5–21; Johannes Reson: Missa Sine nomine, transcr. and ed., Žarko Cvejić, Renaissance Church Music 29 (Moretonhampstead, 2006). Bedingham Mass: OxfB: C87 (Sanctus); Tr 88: fols. 46v–47r; 47v–54r; Tr 93: fols. 30v–36r; 319r–320r. Modern editions: Rebecca Lynn Gerber, ‘The Manuscript Trent, Castello Del Buonconsiglio, 88: A Study of Fifteenth-Century Manuscript Transmission and Repertory’, 2 vols., Ph.D. diss., University of California, Santa Barbara (1985), 2:10–59. Lymburgia, Missa sine nomine: Bol Q15: gathering 14, fols. 138v–143r. Modern edition: Etheridge, ‘The works of Johannes Lymburgia’, 182–6. Modern editions of all Trent 89 Masses can be found in Louis Edward Gottlieb, ‘The Cyclic Masses of Trent Codex 89’, Ph.D. diss., University of California, Berkeley (1958); alternative editions of the Barbingant and Bassere Mass are located in Mitchell, ‘The Paleography and Repertory of Trent Codices 89 and 91’, 725–67, 768–819. Barbingant's Missa sine nomine is found in Trent 89: fols. 306v–315r (704–8); the Missa Fa-ut is in Trent 89: 199v–206v (643–47) and Bassere's Missa sine nomine is in Trent 89: fols. 294v–303r (698–702).

10 A condition to this rule will be discussed below in the internal motto subsection.

11 On flexibility in motivic repetition, see Rob C. Wegman's analyses of Obrecht's Masses in Born for the Muses: The Life and Masses of Jacob Obrecht (Oxford and New York, 1994), passim. The predilection for varied repetition in this music can be better understood, if we view the motto through the lens of the fifteenth-century aesthetic of varietas. As discussed by Tinctoris in Rule 8, Book III of his Liber de arte contrapuncti (1477), it is in the Mass that a composer is to strive for the highest level of varietas. See Alexis Luko, ‘Tinctoris on varietas’, Early Music History, 27 (2008), 99–136. On varied repetition as it relates to the tradition of allusion, quotation and emulation in the fifteenth century, Christopher Reynolds notes that ‘musical paraphrases, though harder to identify, are thought to have been the normal practice for students emulating established masters’. Reynolds, ‘The Counterpoint of Allusion in Fifteenth-Century Masses’, 228.

12 Sectional divisions within movements are dictated by double bar-lines or mensuration changes that appear in the manuscript. Voices are always labelled top to bottom, with labels a, b and c referring to superius, tenor and contratenor respectively.

13 The idea of using small note heads for unrepeated material is borrowed from Peter N. Schubert, ‘Hidden Forms in Palestrina's First Book of Four-Voice Motets’, Journal of the American Musicological Society, 60 (2007), 483–556.

14 When identifying the ur-form, there are no judgements made about the heard primacy of the motto.

15 Jessie Ann Owens defines a ‘module’ as ‘a contrapuntal relationship that can be repeated’ in Composers at Work: The Craft of Musical Composition 1450–1600 (New York and Oxford, 1997), 251; and ‘The Milan Partbooks: Evidence of Cipriano de Rore's Compositional Process’, Journal of the American Musicological Society, 37 (1984), 270–98. On ‘contrapuntal blocks’ in Renaissance music, see Peter N. Schubert, ‘A Lesson From Lassus: Form in the Duos of 1577’, Music Theory Spectrum, 17 (1995), 1–26. On the ‘module’ as a two-voice combination see, idem, ‘Hidden Forms in Palestrina's First Book of Motets’, 484 and Modal Counterpoint, Renaissance Style (New York and Oxford, 1999), 216f. The modules in mid-century sine nomine Masses are comparable to the modules developed by later generations of composers. More explicit connections between mottos of the fifteenth century and modules in music of the sixteenth century will be the topic of a forthcoming study. See Chapter 6 of my dissertation, ‘Unification and Varietas in the Sine nomine Mass’ for connections between motto modules and imitative modules in the music of Josquin, Crecquillon, Clemens, Lassus, Willaert, Palestrina and Rore.

16 The third subsection of the Kyrie, Sanctus and Agnus (Kyrie III, Sanctus III and Agnus III) all have a tripartite structure. Each begins on an F chord and ends on C and all three have a common motto, which is also found at the beginning of the first subsection of the Agnus. Paraphrased from Hamm, ‘The Reson Mass’, 20.

17 In this Mass, Hamm ruled out any possibility of a cantus firmus, stating that although the ‘first 5–6 notes of the tenor of each movement agree … [,] the melodic correspondence goes no further’. Thus, according to him, it is ‘not even possible that it is an irrational treatment of cantus firmus’. Charles Hamm, ‘Another Barbingant Mass’, in Essays in Musicology: In Honor of Dragan Plamenac on his 70th Birthday, ed. Gustave Reese and Robert J. Snow (Pittsburgh, 1969), 83–90. Robert Mitchell argues that Barbingant's Missa sine nomine is actually an early example of a parody mass and is based on Caron's bergerette S'il est ainsi. Mitchell, ‘The Paleography and Repertory of Trent Codices 89 and 91’, 185–96. Mitchell finds no connections between the mottos in Barbingant's Mass and the chanson S'il est ainsi (p. 187).

18 In a classic study of liturgics, Joseph Jungmann described the Mass as a ‘holy drama, a play performed before the eyes of the participants’. Joseph A. Jungmann, The Mass of the Roman Rite: Its Origins and Development (Missa sollemnia), 2 vols., trans. Francis A. Brunner (New York, 1955), 1:107. Viewed within its spiritual context, musical repetition might be linked to ritual evocation of the Trinity, the Last Supper, the Passion etc. Jungmann discusses gestures that are documented for the Mass throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance and outlines the rich history of genuflection, the signing of the cross, kissing the altar, hand movements, the bowing of the head, the ringing of the altar bell, associated with the Sanctus, the Elevation of the Host, etc. For a fascinating new study on the Mass and its cultural, social and spiritual meaning in Medieval and Renaissance society, see Kirkman, The Cultural Life of the Early Polyphonic Mass (Cambridge, 2010). The connection between genuflection, gesture and the motto will be the focus of a forthcoming study.

19 Quoted in Robert Joseph Snow, ‘The Manuscript Strahov D.G.IV.47’, Ph.D. diss., University of Illinois (1968), 88. For other discussions regarding the Missa Fa-ut's remarkable large-scale design, see Gottlieb, ‘The Cyclic Masses of Trent Codex 89’, 141–5; Kirkman, ‘Innovation, Stylistic Patterns’, 162–4; Mitchell, ‘The Paleography and Repertory of Trent Codices 89 and 91’, 86–88, 178.

20 Reynolds, Papal Patronage and the Music of St. Peter's, 252.

21 Ibid.

22 For an inventory of sine nomine Masses, see my dissertation, ‘Unification and Varietas in the Sine nomine Mass’, 395–8.

23 The proliferation of initial sine nomine Mass mottos in the Kyrie and Gloria may be linked to the contiguous placement of these items in the liturgy.

24 Julie Cumming, ‘From Variety to Repetition: The Birth of Imitative Polyphony’, Yearbook of the Alamire Foundation, 6 (2008), 21–44; eadem, ‘Petrucci's Motet Prints: Crucible of the New Style’, paper given at the Annual Meeting of the American Musicological Society, Washington DC, 27 October 2005.

Ex. 1Johannes Reson, Opening of Kyrie: Melodic Motto labels KIa, KIb, and KIc.

Ex. 2Annotation of repeated material and non-repeated material.

Ex. 3Lymburgia, Missa Sine Nomine, Sanctus I: Motto Module.

Ex. 4Lymburgia, Missa Sine Nomine, Agnus I: Motto Module.

Ex. 5Reson, Missa sine nomine, Kyrie III, KIII Module.

Ex. 6Reson, Missa sine nomine, Sanctus III, KIII Module.

Ex. 7Reson, Missa sine nomine, Agnus III, KIII Module.

Ex. 8Jo. Bassere, Missa sine nomine, Kyrie I, initial presentation of KI Motto Module.

Ex. 9Jo. Bassere, Missa sine nomine, Gloria I, KI Motto Module.

Ex. 10Jo. Bassere, Missa sine nomine, Credo I, KI Motto Module.

Ex. 11Jo. Bassere, Missa sine nomine, Sanctus I, KI Motto Module.

Ex. 12Jo. Bassere, Missa sine nomine, Agnus I, KI Motto Module.

Fig. 1Examples of Motto Transformation.

Ex. 13Reson, Missa Sine Nomine, Kyrie I: KI Motto Constellation.

Ex. 14Reson, Missa Sine Nomine, Gloria I: KI Motto Constellation.

Ex. 15Reson, Missa Sine Nomine, Credo I: KI Motto Constellation.

Ex. 16Reson, Missa Sine Nomine, Sanctus I: KI Motto Constellation.

Ex. 17Benet, Missa sine nomine, no. 1, GIa Motto Constellation.

Ex. 18Benet, Missa sine nomine, no. 1, Agnus I (NB: GIa (Ex. 17) features interpolated notes (marked with parentheses) while the entry of GIb is delayed).

Ex. 19Barbingant, Missa sine nomine, opening of Kyrie movement, KI Constellation.

Ex. 20Barbingant, Missa sine nomine, third line of text in Gloria I, Internal MottoKI Constellation at ‘Laudamus te’.

Ex. 21Barbingant, Missa sine nomine, third line of text in Credo, Delayed Motto Entry of ‘KI constellation’ with imitative/ornamental inserted passage ‘X’ at Patrem/Dominum Jesu Christum'.

Ex. 22Barbingant, Missa sine nomine, opening of Sanctus, KI Constellation with ‘X’ Motto Prefix.

Ex. 23Barbingant, Missa sine nomine, opening of Agnus, KI Constellation with ‘X’ Motto Prefix.

Ex. 24Ex. 24Barbingant, Missa sine nomine, transformation of KIc melodic motto in low Contratenor:a) Kyrie: initial form of KIc melodic motto (also see Ex. 19)b) Credo: addition of ‘X’ Prefix to KIc (also see Ex. 21)c) Sanctus: (also see Ex. 22)d) Agnus: (also see Ex. 23).